Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Former abortion practitioner Bernard Nathanson, who has since converted to the pro-life position, was a former mentor of George Tiller, the slain late-term abortion practitioner. In a new interview, Nathanson said he was surprised that Tiller never became pro-life himself because of new medical technologies.

Nathanson is no stranger to the abortion industry, having done more than 75,000 abortions himself during the 1960s and 1970s and presiding over one of the nation’s premier pro-abortion groups, NARAL.

He earned widespread praise from the pro-life movement for his movie “Silent Scream” which showed the advancement in ultrasound technology and how an abortion destroys human life.

“I knew George Tiller years ago when I was on the pro-abortion side,” he told the Washington Times. “He came to a course I was giving in the technique of abortion in New York in 1970 under the auspices of NARAL. And I did late-term abortions until I changed my opinion as of 1980.”

“My switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion,” he told the newspaper.

“Tiller was a church-going man, which doesn’t say a whole lot in this country, but one wonders why he never changed his mind based on the scientific evidence. That is where I changed my mind, based on fetoscopies and ultrasound studies,” Nathanson added.

“Once we had ultrasound in place, we could study the fetus and see it was a member of our community. If you don’t do that, you’re just a creature of political ideology. In 1970, there were approximately 1,100 articles on the functioning of the fetus. By 1990, there were 22,000. The data piled up swiftly and opened a window into the womb,” Nathanson continued.

The former abortion practitioner admitted to the Times that he, too, could have been shot had he continued to do abortions.

“Yes, that is correct,” he said. “But I wasn’t.”

Tiller was allegedly shot by Scott Roeder, a militia activist with no affiliations with any pro-life organizations. Roeder’s family has also indicated that he battled with mental illness over the years.

Hundreds of pro-life groups have since issued statements condemning the shooting and saying it doesn’t represent the views of the majority of Americans who are pro-life on abortion and seek legal and peaceful means to protect human life.

However, that hasn’t stopped pro-abortion groups from attacking the majority of Americans who take a pro-life position on abortion and referring to them as terrorists.